Matthew 5:1-48

Roger Hahn

The first, longest, and best-known block of teaching material in
Matthew is known as the Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon is found
in Matthew 5-7. Literally thousands of books and articles have been
written about it. The Sermon is one of the best-loved sections of the
Bible and contains the most well-known teachings of Jesus. Despite the
extensive study there is no consensus about the outline of the Sermon.
Neither is there agreement about its purpose. It does seem clear that
Matthew presented the Sermon as a summary of Jesus’ teaching about the
Kingdom of God. The strategic placement of the Sermon immediately
following Matthew 4:17 and 23-25 as well as its content suggests this.
Speculation about the structure and purpose is not as profitable for us
as examining the Sermon itself.

Introduction to the Sermon - Matthew 5:1-2

The opening two verses of Matthew 5 are not an introduction in the
modern sense of the word. That is, they do not give an initial summary
or preview of the content. Rather, these verses provide important
insight into Matthew’s understanding of the Sermon’s framework. First,
Matthew places Jesus on the mountain to deliver the Sermon. This
contrasts with Luke 6:17 where Jesus is said to deliver the Sermon from
"a level place." For Matthew, the mountain
is a place of divine revelation. It also introduces his concept of Jesus
as the new Moses. The comment that Jesus was seated is also important.
Sitting was the position for rabbis when they were giving official
teaching of the Law. Their seat was called "the seat of Moses." To say
that Jesus was seated speaks both of his authority to give genuine
interpretation from God and his connection to Moses. Moses received the
Law on the mountain by revelation from God. Jesus gave the Sermon on the
mountain as revelation from God.

The second important insight from the opening verses appears in the
Greek form of the verb taught in verse 2. The verb form shows
that Matthew did not regard the Sermon as a single event in Jesus’ life.
Rather, it represented the pattern of Jesus’ typical teachings. This is
confirmed by careful comparison with Luke’s gospel. Much of the material
in Matthew’s Sermon can be found, but it is scattered through several
places in Luke. Thus, the Sermon on the Mount is not simply one sermon
preached once representing the peak of Jesus’ teaching. Rather, it is
the typical preaching of Jesus. These are the kinds of words he taught
all the time wherever he went.

The Beatitudes - Matthew 5:3-12

Apart from the Lord’s Prayer the Beatitudes, those verses that begin
with blessed, are the most well known and best-loved material in
the Sermon. However, these words have been interpreted and applied in
very different ways in the history of Christianity. Through much of
Christian history the beatitudes have been viewed as giving the demands
of the Kingdom of God. This interpretation says, "Blessed are the meek,
but if you aren’t meek, you are cursed." This view has often led to
understanding the Sermon as an expression of the impossible ideal for
believers. Some even claim that its purpose is to drive Christians to
despair over their inability to live at the level portrayed in the
beatitudes.

It is much more natural to understand the beatitudes as "effective
words of grace." This view builds on the Old Testament concept of
effective words. The concept of an effective word is that the very act
of speaking it begins its fulfillment or enactment. Thus, when Jesus
says, blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness,
the very act of his saying it begins a process of actual blessing in the
lives of people who do hunger and thirst after righteousness. Obviously,
this interpretation sees the beatitudes as good news rather than an
impossible demand. Because the first and the eighth beatitudes speak of
the kingdom of heaven, these words of blessing are often seen as the
good news of the kingdom of God.

Another way of expressing this is to ask, "What is the Kingdom of God
like?" The answer according to the beatitudes is that the kingdom is the
kind of place where the poor in spirit, the meek, the merciful, and the
pure in heart are blessed. That immediately tells us that the kingdom is
very different from the kind of human society to which we are
accustomed. We might summarize the recipients of kingdom blessings as
the unfortunate people of society and as the spiritually sensitive
people. Those who mourn, the meek, and those who are persecuted are not
considered fortunate in our society. If we used Luke’s parallel
beatitudes (Luke 6:20-21) we could add the poor and the hungry to the
list of unfortunates. The fact that Matthew’s beatitudes speak of the
poor in spirit
and those who hunger and thirst for righteousness shows his
tendency to cast the matter in spiritual terms. In the time of Jesus
unfortunate people were often seen as spiritually sensitive. This view
is pervasive enough in Scripture that it represents a real challenge to
those of us who enjoy the comfort and security of middle-class society.
The beatitudes call us to understand the world from the perspective of
those less fortunate than ourselves. May our material prosperity not
hinder our spiritual sensitivity.

Another significant insight from grammar is important for understanding
the beatitudes. The second clause of most of the beatitudes is expressed
in the passive voice (for they will be comforted,
for they will be filled). Jews in the time of Jesus often used the
passive voice as a way of referring to God without mentioning his name.
The fact that God is the one who brings the beatitudes to fulfillment is
important. The beatitudes are not the result of natural law; they are
words of grace. Blessed are the poor in spirit for God will give
them the kingdom. Blessed are those who mourn for God will
comfort them. Blessed are the merciful
for God will show mercy to them. The beatitudes promise divine grace from
start to finish.

It is also important for us to notice the importance placed on
persecution in this section of the Sermon. About the final one third of
the material we call the beatitudes focuses on the right response to
persecution. The only commands that appear in the beatitudes are the
commands to rejoice and be glad when we are persecuted for
righteousness. Note that there is no blessing for being persecuted
because we are hard to get along with or because of our personality.
Righteousness is the only value high enough that its persecution is seen
as a blessing. Jesus (and Matthew) seems to assume that genuine
righteousness will lead to some kind of persecution. Perhaps our lack of
persecution is lack of enthusiasm for righteousness.

Salt and Light - Matthew 5:13-16

Verses 13-16 move from the blessings of the kingdom to the
responsibilities of the kingdom. Jesus uses two metaphors to describe
believers as kingdom people. We are to be the salt and the
light of the world. Both metaphors place believers over against the
world rather than viewing us as part of the world. This is another New
Testament perspective that has largely been lost by the contemporary
church. We wanted to be accepted by the world; to be like the world; to
be an approved part of the world. Matthew will have none of that. We
have a responsibility to the world.

Jesus did not explain his use of the metaphor of salt. We are
left to interpret what he meant. In the ancient world salt had at least
three major functions. It was a purifying agent; it was a preservative;
and it provided taste. Salt was applied to wounds in ancient Palestine,
not because those who applied it were sadistic, but because it was the
closest thing they had to a disinfectant. Gangrene often set in when
wounds were not cleansed with salt. Salt was also a preservative. In the
days before refrigeration salt was one of the major ways to preserve
meat. The use of salt to provide taste is still one of its major
functions in our society.

Jesus’ vision of believers being the salt of the earth is quite
significant. Immediately following his words about persecution in the
beatitudes he calls on his followers to respond to the persecuting world
in purifying, preserving, and tasteful ways. Though Jesus did not see
his followers being accepted by the world or wanting to be part of the
world, neither did he see us rejecting the world. Our calling is to make
the world a better place to live. That will only happen as the world
becomes a part of the kingdom of God.

Jesus’ words about being the light of the world are similar. The
metaphor of believers as light assumes that the world is dark or in
darkness. Yet the call to be light is not a rejection of the dark world.
It is a command to shed light in the darkness, to bring hope to the
hopeless, and to give correction to the wrong. This call to ministry in
and for the world is not to become the occasion of self-congratulations
on our part. The conclusion of this section is that when we are salt and
light the result is to be glory given to God rather than praise given to
us. For that reason it is the light metaphor rather than the salt
metaphor that is mentioned in verse 16. Believers are to be light
pointing the way to God. Whenever the attention falls on us or we
applaud other believers we are in danger of missing the role that God
has called us to fill.

The Place of the Law - Matthew 5:17-20

One of the questions that occupied much of Matthew’s attention and has
been a problem throughout Christian history is the relationship between
Christ and the Old Testament, especially the Old Testament Law. Matthew
is quite clear about the general answer to that question. He (and he
alone among the four gospel writers) notes that Jesus did not come
to abolish the law or the prophets. . . but to fulfill the law. This
statement of Jesus stands as a barrier and a challenge to those who
would like to completely cut off Christianity from its Jewish roots and
Old Testament background.

How the Law is fulfilled in Jesus is not explained directly in
Matthew, but verses 21-48 seem to illustrate that fulfillment. However,
lest we spiritualize this fulfillment too much Jesus states that not
not one jot or one tittle will pass from the law before the whole
purpose of the Law is fulfilled.

The "jot" was the smallest letter of the Hebrew alphabet, yodh. It
resembles an apostrophe mark. The "tittle" or hook was the smallest mark
distinguishing one Hebrew letter from another. This strong affirmation
of the Law tells us that we are not free to ignore the Old Testament or
the Old Testament Law. Paul’s statement in Romans 6:14 that "we are not
under Law but under grace" must be understood in conjunction with Jesus’
statement that he came to fulfill the Law.

Verse 20 culminates Jesus’ treatment of his relationship to the Law. He
states that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and
Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. That is,
unless a believer’s righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the
scribes and Pharisees that person has not and will not participate in
the kingdom of God. It is especially important here to note that
Matthew’s phrase, kingdom of heaven," does not mean heaven. It
means the kingdom of God or the sovereign rule of God. It is to
be God’s kingdom on earth as much as it is in heaven. Failure to exceed
the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees will mean failure to
experience the kingdom life now as described in the beatitudes. What
Jesus meant by exceeding the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees
is not explicitly defined. However, the following verses illustrate a
life of living by the purpose and principles of the Law rather than by
only observing the external requirements. As long as we regard the Law
as a list of requirements verse 20 will lead us to legalism. When we
understand the Law to be a window into our hearts God has a chance to
speak the gospel to us in this section of Matthew.

The Great Antitheses - Matthew 5:21-48

Following Jesus’ discussion of his relationship to the Old Testament
Law Matthew presents six subjects illustrating Jesus’ teaching. This
section is often called the great antitheses because of the
common literary structure introducing each subject. Six times in verses
21-48 we find this pattern.

You have heard it said by
(or to) those of old

{Old Testament quotation}

But I say to you

{Jesus’ reinterpretation of the Old Testament}

The reinterpretation by Jesus then illustrates what it means for him to
fulfill the Law and what it means for our righteousness to exceed that
of the scribes and Pharisees. The general pattern of Jesus’ teaching in
the great antitheses is to move beyond the letter of the Law to the
spirit. He drives to the original intention of the Law in the mind of
God. In this sense Christ restores the Law to its God-intended purpose.
For this reason we need to give careful attention to the way Jesus works
with the Law in these verses.

The first subject that Jesus addresses is anger. The portion of
Old Testament Law that he quotes is the prohibition of murder. However,
Jesus proclaims the same punishment for a person who is angry with his
brother or sister. The King James Version spoke of being angry with
one’s brother "without a cause." However, the oldest and best
manuscripts of the New Testament do not contain these words. It is
fairly clear that they were added by a scribe who wished to justify his
own anger with certain people.

Jesus’ point is difficult for most of us to understand let alone
accept. The heart issue in murder is much more than just the death of
another individual. It begins with an attitude that disregards the value
of that other person, making his or her life of no importance. Likewise
anger disregards the value of another person. It is important for us to
recognize that Jesus was not speaking of natural angry reactions that we
all have when our sense of space and worth is violated. What Jesus was
dealing with was the accepting, nurturing, and continuing of anger
against another person after our momentary reaction. When we value
others as much as we value ourselves we will find explanations for their
invasions of our space and dignity in the same way we find explanations
for our own behavior that inadvertently hurts other people.

Verses 23-24 show how important this issue is. Jesus places the
resolution of our human conflicts above our worship of God. That is,
worship of God is meaningless as long as we live with broken human
relationships. Persons matter so much to God that he requires that we
mend our relationships with other people before bringing our gifts to
him.

Verses 27-30 deal with the issue of adultery. Here we find the
clearest example of the way Jesus moves to the heart purpose of the Old
Testament commandment. The Old Testament quotation was of the seventh
commandment prohibiting adultery. Jesus extended the application of the
commandment past bed-hopping. To look at another person in order to lust
after them is to commit adultery in one’s heart. Even in the Old
Testament adultery was understood to be much more than the violation of
another man’s property rights over his wife. Idolatry and the worship of
Baal was often described as adultery by the Old Testament prophets. The
underlying assumption is that marriage was to be a covenant relationship
like that between God and Israel. Such covenanting calls for mutual
love, fidelity, and valuing.

Adultery is the violation of covenant love, covenant faithfulness, and
covenant valuing. So is lust and so are any of the variety of
pornographic entertainments available now (and then). To desire
(sexually or otherwise) someone other than your covenant partner
violates the mutual valuing implied by the covenant itself. Pornography
undermines covenant mutuality. Our culture has so perverted human
sexuality into the self-indulgent pursuit of orgasm that hardly a trace
of the biblical view remains. Biblical sexuality is intensely personal.
Genesis 2 portrays sexuality as the means by which our humanity in the
image of God is created. Sexual union creates a mutual valuing of the
two partners that is violated by every sexual perversion or sin. Though
research and human experience deny it our popular culture still promotes
the delusion that sexuality is a genital activity rather than the heart
of personal relationship. We cannot have it both ways and the sooner the
church declares that reality, the better off we will be.

The third issue Jesus addressed in the great antitheses was divorce.
The Old Testament quotation is from Deuteronomy 24:1, which was part of
the Old Testament divorce regulations. The scenario described in
Deuteronomy 24:1 is that of a wife who does not find favor from her
husband because of something objectionable about her. The rabbis of
Jesus’ time discussed intensely what "objectionable" things might be
sufficient cause for a divorce. Some of the suggestions included such
trivial matters as being a poor cook or not being as physically
attractive as another woman the husband might meet.

Here in Matthew 5 Jesus clearly states that adultery is the only thing
sufficiently objectionable so that a divorce might be permitted. Matthew
19 will contain a fuller treatment of the question of marriage and
divorce. However, we should note here that Jesus does not command
divorce in the case of adultery. He also states that a man who divorces
his wife for any reason other than adultery is responsible for placing
his wife in a position where adultery may be her only recourse. In an
astounding move beyond the Old Testament Jesus made adultery an issue
for which both men and women are responsible rather than it simply being
a woman’s problem.

The fourth main subject in this section is that of oaths. This
is difficult for most modern believers to understand for two reasons.
First, we tend to take Scriptural teaching on oaths as a prohibition of
any profane use of God’s name. In the biblical context oaths referred to
the use of God’s name to affirm the truthfulness of what one had said.
It did not include other profanity or vulgar language. The second issue
we fail to understand is the pattern of deceitfulness prevalent in
Jewish society at Jesus’ time. At least in some circles habits had
developed in which people felt free not to tell the truth unless they
swore by God’s name that they were telling the truth. Judaism had
several mechanisms by which they could refer to God without actually
mentioning his name. Use of the passive voice was one of those
mechanisms. Mention of heaven or God’s throne was another. Jesus’ point
here in Matthew 5:33-37 is that kingdom people’s word is reliable. Yes
means yes, no means no, and no oaths should be necessary to convince
others of the integrity of our words. Though our culture has different
ways of justifying lying the principle is still true for believers
today. There should never be a question of the integrity of our words.

Verses 38-42 deal with the subject of retaliation. Jesus quotes
a common Old Testament dictum, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a
tooth. This saying can be found in Exodus 21:24; Leviticus 24:20;
and Deuteronomy 19:21. Though Christian history has normally taken these
words to speak of the right for revenge, in their original context they
had a very different thrust. In a world in which the death of one
demanded vengeance killing of several in response the eye for eye
teaching was a
restriction of retaliation. Jesus extends that limitation of
retaliation by urging our generous and gracious response to everyone who
hurts us or places some demand upon us. This leads very naturally to the
final antithesis. Instead of loving our family and friends and hating
our enemies Christ calls on us to also love our enemies. Our example in
this is God himself who demonstrates equal love to saints and sinners
alike. Both receive the blessings of sunshine and rain indiscriminately.
Kingdom people likewise will love indiscriminately. That love without
expecting a return is the meaning of being perfect like our heavenly
Father is perfect.

Study Questions for Reflection and Discussion

These readings and study questions are in preparation
for next week's lesson.

As you study each day ask the Lord to help you
understand the Scriptures and to apply its meaning to your own heart and
life.

First Day: Read the notes on Matthew 5:1-48.
Look up the Scripture
references given.

1. Identify one or two new insights that seemed important to you. Why
are they important?

2. Is there a spiritual truth in Matthew 5 that is especially
significant for you? Write it down and explain why it is important for
you.

3. Write a brief prayer asking God to help you identify the areas of
your life that need to change for you to live like a genuine "kingdom
person."

Second Day: Read Matthew 6:1-34.
Now focus on Matthew
6:1-18.

1. What pattern of words is repeated in verses 2-4, 5-6, and 16-18? Jot
down the pattern and explain the significance you see in it.

2. How do verses 2-18 illustrate the teaching of verse 1? From your
perspective, what is the worst thing about being religious in public in
order to be seen? Is that "worst thing" a concern mentioned in these
verses?

3. What value or reward comes from the public display of piety? What
reward or value comes from the private practice of piety? Which do you
prefer? Why?

Third Day: Read Matthew 6:1-18.
Focus in on Matthew
6:5-15.

1. Compare the version of the Lord’s Prayer here in Matthew 6:9-13 with
that found in Luke 11:2-4. Note both similarities and differences. What
significance do the differences in Matthew have for you?

2. How important does forgiveness seem to be according to these focus
verses? Is it "fair" of Jesus to demand this level of forgiveness? Why
or why not? Is it realistic? Why or why not?

3. Summarize what these verses teach you about prayer and a life of
prayer. What areas of this teaching does the Holy Spirit identify as
areas in which you need growth and improvement? How will you respond?

1. In light of the whole context of verses 19-34 what treasures do you
think Jesus may have had in mind in his comments found in verses 19-21?
Does your answer fit with verse 21? How?

2. Can you illustrate the truthfulness of Jesus’ saying in verse 24
that no one can serve two masters? What happens when one tries to divide
loyalties? How is that related to the Old Testament prohibition of
idolatry? What "masters" become the "idols" of our lives?

3. What areas of life do you struggle with in light of Jesus’ command
to seek the kingdom first of all? How would your life be different if
you really did seek God’s kingdom first and foremost in your life?

Fifth Day: Read Matthew 6:19-7:14.
Now focus in on
Matthew 7:1-6.

1. Do you think Matthew 7:1-6 flows naturally out of Matthew 6:19-34 or
is Matthew 7 beginning a whole new subject matter? Explain your answer.

2. Is Jesus’ prohibition of judging others realistic? Is it
appropriate? How can we understand it so that it will be both realistic
and appropriate? If there are times to "judge" another, how does that
fit with these verses?

3. Attempt your own explanation of verse 6. What do you think Jesus is
referring to when he speaks of "that which is holy?" What pearls of
yours would he advise you to keep from the swine? Why?

Sixth Day: Read Matthew 7:1-14.
Now focus on Matthew
7:7-14.

1. How does the teaching on prayer found here in verses 7-8 compare
with the teaching found in Matthew 6:5-15? What explanation would you
give for the differences in the teaching found in these two sections?

2. What are the "good things" that Matthew envisions Jesus giving to
people according to verse 11? Compare this section with Luke 11:9-13.
What significant differences do you find? How do they help you answer
the question of what Matthew considered the "good things?"

3. Verse 12 is often called the Golden Rule. Ask the Lord to
identify some areas in your life where application of the Golden Rule
would cause you to respond, act, or think differently. What difference
would it make in your life to really live by the Golden Rule?